A Message from Stephen Rhind-Tutt, Co-founder, Alexander Street

It’s now almost 18 months ago since Alexander Street joined ProQuest. It’s been very busy. We’ve launched over 30 products, we’ve swapped out numerous systems and learned a ton of new processes. Thanks to all of you we’ve seen Academic Video Online go from strength to strength – it’s already sold 20% more than last year and we’ve still have two months to go. Rest assured we know there are also areas where we’ve got more to do and in 2018 we’re going to be working hard to join our systems and continue to make them more customer friendly.

At the end of 2017, I’m going to be taking a new role as strategic advisor to the ProQuest CEO, Matti Shem-Tov. My new responsibilities will involve advising on all of ProQuest’s products and strategy rather than just Alexander Street’s.

My broader role means letting others step up to lead Alexander Street. Going forward, David Parker will head up Alexander Street’s video business, and Andrea Eastman Mullins will lead our music and text discipline collections. I know they’re going to do a great job, because for many years they and their teams have really carried the brunt of the work! Eileen Lawrence will continue to champion our products to customers. If you’ll excuse the sports metaphor, this isn’t a “passing of the baton” as much as the lead runner allowing others to come forward.

This is a good time to thank the many, many people who’ve helped me and Alexander Street over the years—coworkers and customers and partners alike. There are literally thousands of librarians who’ve generously given their advice, their time, and their budget to help the company grow. Over 3,000 business partners, who are licensing us superb content. Employees who work extra hours to make our products that little bit better by seeking out hard-to-find content or working that little bit longer on our platforms. Thank you all! You’ve made the last seventeen years very fulfilling for me, and I hope that you’ll continue to do the same as we work together with teams across ProQuest.

Alexander Street has some really exciting products on the drawing board. Revolutions and Protest and Security Studies Online will build out our global social issues series, with—as ever—some great, previously unpublished material and… oops, there I go again. It is time for me to let others detail them for you!